1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a method and kit for transferring free-hand artwork and colored backgrounds to a T-shirt or the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many exemplary heat transferable or pressure transferable decals for placing a color emblem on a fabric or other receptor sheet are illustrated in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,071,163 to Emmey discloses a transfer sheet 13 having colored areas 14, 15 thereon formed from a heat transferable wax. The heat transferable wax 14, 15 is applied to the transfer sheet 13 in a melted state at the time of manufacture of the transfer sheet.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,217,270 to Gibbs and 2,688,579 to Meyer disclose other forms of precolored transfer sheets. The transfer sheets in these patents, like the transfer sheet of Emmey, are precolored at the time of manufacture of the transfer sheet.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,783,073 to Warnberg and 4,038,123 to Simms disclose devices for transferring outlines of indicia to fabrics.
Each of the foregoing patents suffers from the disadvantage that they do not permit or encourage creative artwork in the design transferred to the fabric by the consumer.
At least one custom coloring procedure for applying color designs to T-shirts or other fabrics is known. In this procedure, fabric crayons are sold separately in combination with T-shirts, which have outlines of the designs applied thereto, and the consumer uses the fabric crayons to color directly on the fabric or the T-shirt. This method of coloring is totally unsatisfactory, since the flexibility of the fabric prevents smooth and fluid strokes and creates tension which prevents an even application of color from the crayons.
Another custom coloring procedure for transferring coloring designs to materials other than fabrics is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,785,912 to Van Duesen, which discloses transferring a pattern or outline to a receptor sheet and subsequently coloring the receptor sheet with a conventional felt tip pen. This is essentially the same procedure described above with respect to the custom coloring of T-shirts.
All of the transfer kits and techniques of the prior art suffer from the disadvantage outlined above which are overcome by the method and kit of the present invention which provides a method and kit for transferring creative free-hand artwork to a T-shirt or the like.
The transferable pattern is created from a manifold of a heat transfer sheet and a reverse or lift-type copy sheet having a pressure transferable coating of heat transferable material thereon. By generating a free-hand pattern on the obverse face of the transfer sheet with the pressure of a drafting implement, such as a pencil, pen or stylus, a heat transferable mirror image pattern is created on the rear face thereof by pressure transfer which can be applied to a T-shirt or other article by heat transfer.
To provide interesting background colors and patterns on the T-shirt on which the free-hand artwork is superimposed the rear surface of the transfer sheet may be coated with a negative image of the background pattern formed from heat transferable inks. The transfer sheet may be transparent so the negative background image on the rear of the transfer sheet is visible as a positive image through the obverse surface.
In the alternative the background image, or at least an outline thereof, may be printed on the obverse surface of the transfer sheet as a guide or framework in which the free-hand artwork is performed. The free-hand artwork and background pattern are then transferable together from the rear surface of the transfer sheet to the T-shirt or similar fabric.